The Departure
by Neonette
Summary: A possible reason why Sirius gave up his family and fortune...in addition to all the pure-blood bigotry that is. This story centers around the Marauders during their years at Hogwarts. I'll try to stay as canon as possible.
1. Chapter 1

The Departure

_A possible avenue of Sirius's reasons for leaving his family and fortune behind…other than all the pure-blood bigotry._

It was the beginning of their fifth year at Hogwarts and the Marauders had more than cemented their role among the student body. They were the wild bunch that were always in trouble and somehow managed to walk away with little more than a tongue-lashing. James was cocky, but endearing. His good nature always managed to pull him from the dregs that his ego got him into. Remus was the quiet one; it was always assumed that he had been forced into trouble in an effort to get his friends out of it. Peter was the follower. None too bright and eager to please the few friends that tolerated him. He'd jump off a bridge in a heartbeat at the request of anyone with a higher social ranking.

And then there was Sirius. Other than his charm, there were no redeeming features in this typical wizarding aristocrat. He came from one of the most powerful families in the wizarding world and one of the best looking. As the boys had gotten older, it was obvious that Sirius was the looker of the gang. He was also the most reckless. His lack of parental nurturing had taught that rules were for others and not for him. But, he was still popular and well liked.

Especially by the girls. The beginning of fifth year had met the Marauders with the eyes of many ladies, including those a few years older (something their egos _much_ needed!). Remus and Peter tended to shy away from the girls. Well, Remus shied away, what with his "condition" and all. Peter pretended to shy away to mask the fact that girls actually avoided him. James, however, had his sites set on someone, already. Being the arrogant boy he was, he'd picked a girl that his mates were sure he would never get.

"That girl _hates_ you!" Remus laughed as they ate their lunch in the Great Hall, "If you get her to go out with you, I'll howl at the moon when it _isn't _full!"

Peter and Sirius gave supportive sniggers to their handicapped friend.

"Lupin's right, James," Sirius added, "Lily Evans will _never_ go out with you! She won't even pass by you in the halls!"

"I'll change her mind," James assured them, "No one can hate James Potter forever!"

The boys continued to laugh at their friend, until Sirius became distracted by the newest populates of the Great Hall. It was a small group of Ravenclaw girls, fifth years as well. One of them looked familiar, but Sirius was sure that he hadn't seen her at Hogwarts before. He watched her subtly as he pretended to listen to Peter's latest mistelling of a misadventure with a sixth year girl.

The Ravenclaw girl departed from her gaggle to take a solitary seat near the end of the hall. She had dark brown hair and skin that had obviously seen the sun more recently than the rest of the students. She was wearing a uniform, but tended to fidget with it uncomfortably. She gazed around the hall curiously for a few moments before pulling out a deck of cards from her book bag.

'Divinition…' Sirius scoffed in his head as she carefully removed the cards from their box and began to shuffle them. To his surprise, the girl did not lay them out in any sort of tarot spread, but laid them down in a neat line and began to flip the entire row from end to end with her finger tips. She quickly grew bored and returned to shuffling, adding a bridge here and there for good measure. She cut the cards a few times then fanned the deck before her again.

"Sirius!" James yelled, "Where've you been?"

"Who's that girl over there?" Sirius remarked, pointing to the girl with the cards and shaking himself back to reality.

"Isn't that Ariana Lewis?" Peter replied quickly.

"No…" Remus continued, "Ariana has Witches Society meetings at lunch. She's the secretary; can't imagine she'd miss a meeting."

"And how would you know that, Mooney?" James asked with a wry smile.

The werewolf blushed. "I've had a few conversations with one of the commanding witches," he answered with a wry smile of his own.

"Well, well. You might just be more of a dog than Padfoot!"

"Hey, hey!" Sirius interjected, "Let's not get carried away now! Remember that this dog's had more tail than the three of you combined!"

"Only if you call 'tail' snogging random fourth years on the Hogwarts Express!" Remus laughed.

"It's still more action than you've seen!" Sirius chuckled as he stole a glance at the mysterious Ravenclaw.

But she was gone.

The Marauder's ended their lunch and went on to their respective classes, which none of them shared. Sirius headed out to Herbology, where he was sure to cause a disaster. The only class he hated more was Divination; both were a profound waste of his time, but he needed something to fill the extra time in his schedule.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Finally, an update! It's a bit of a slow burn, but I hope that there's enough implied that you can see where this is going. I apologize for the formatting being a little rough; I'm experimenting with word processing on my iPad. My laptop's been getting a heck of a work out this summer (learned three new robot programming languages!) and I'm trying to give it a break. Reviews are greatly appreciated!

Sirius was in Prossor McGonagall's office...again. He'd made an awful mess in Herbology. The greenhouse certainly looked like a wild dog had run through it, though Sirius knew better than to shift in front of anyone. It was simply in his nature to make a mess of what he didn't understand.

"Honestly, Sirius, what were you thinking?" the old witch asked him, exasperatedly. Even though the boy had been in he office over a dozen times since his first year, she knew that they continued to have only the one conversation.

"It was just a bit of messing about, McGonagall," he scoffed as he played with the arm of the chair.

"Professor," she corrected stiffly. His lounging in the leather chair, pronouncing his lackadaisical attitude, was annoying her but she knew the effort to change his posture would only annoy her further.

"Professor," he dramatically verbalized, "Nobody got hurt-"

"Ginnifer Abbot is in the infirmary half blind from the poisoned soil you whipped about the greenhouse!"

Sirius rolled his eyes, "She'll heal just fine."

"She should not need to heal in the first place! Your lack of empathy and respect is despicable, Sirius Black! As a member of one of the most respected wizarding families, you should be setting a good example for the rest of the school. Not turning it on its head!"

Sirius stared at the floor with his teeth clenched. He hated having his family status dragged into these things.

"Fifty points from Gryffindor," Professor McGonagall said sharply.

"Fifty!" Sirius exclaimed, throwing his arms out.

"Get out before I make it more and add grounds work to your punishment, Mr. black."

Sirius stormed out of the office, slamming the door as he left. He honestly didn't believe his little stunt in the green house has warranted a fifty point deduction.

_Yes, it did_, a little voice nagged at him. He quickly dismissed it and slumped himself over a balcony. Below in the garden he saw the same girl from earlier that day. Again, she looked familiar but new all at once.

She sat alone, again, but no deck of cards. Instead, she delicately toyed with a small wooden sphere. It glided over the tops of her hands from one hand to the other. The sphere seemed to float across her skin and he waited for her to levitate it. But the girl didn't levitate the sphere. Instead, she tossed it in the air and caught it behind her back, then resumed the gliding.

Sirius spirited himself away from the balcony, determined to find out who she was and what she was doing. He certainly wouldn't be missed back in Herbology.

The girl continued to play with her sphere. She twirled it across her arms and tossed it in the air and behind her back. She stood and danced around and within it, enjoying her quiet alone time. She tossed the sphere from behind her and caught it on the back of her hand before tossing it high once again. She was confused when she didn't feel its familiar weight in her back hand and she turn around with a furrowed brow.

There stood a tall, pale boy with long black hair, one hand holding her sphere and the other tucked neatly behind his back.

Sirius smiled wickedly and looked from the sphere to her. The girl straightened her back and shoulders and held out her own hand.

"May I have my ball back, please?" she asked firmly, politely, and in an American accent. Sirius was more determined than ever to know who she was; there weren't many foreign students at Hogwarts to begin with.

"Only if you tell me your name," he asked cautiously. She obviously didn't know who he was and he didn't want to give himself away too quickly.

"Fair enough," she replied, thoroughly uninterested, " Miranda Lewis."

"Not a relation of Ariana Lewis, are you?" Sirius asked as he gently dropped the ball into her hand. He wasn't always a sneaky little git.

Miranda began her gliding exercises again. "My twin sister," she said flatly as she turned away from Sirius.

Ah, yes! he thought as he rummaged around in his memory. Ariana was American, but he never recalled he having a sister, let alone a twin. He snaked back in from of Miranda and snatched the ball from her again.

"Hey!" she cried and reached out for her trinket. Sirius held it high above his head and well beyond her reach.

"If you're Ariana's sister, then why haven't I seen you before?" he probed. Miranda leaped for the ball, but Sirius moved deftly away from her.  
She rolled her eyes and sighed in exasperation. "I don't go here," she admitted, "I'm only here until my parents can sort out another school for me." She held out her hand for the ball.

"And what's so special about you that you can't attend Hogwarts?" Sirius asked, a touch of indignity to his voice.

"Nothing, now give it back!" Miranda spat. She leaped for the ball again, taking a firm grasp on Sirius's shoulder this time. This move took him by surprise and he actually had to shake here off. He still retained the ball though.

"Fiery little thing!" he laughed. "Here," he said and as he handed her the ball he transfigured it into a paper flower. Miranda stared at it angrily and then at Sirius. He laughed again and began to leave the courtyard.  
"I'm sure the magic of a mere Hogwarts boy is easily reversed by one such as yourself," he chortled as he disappeared back into the castle.  
Miranda glared at the paper flower and crushed it in her hand.


	3. Chapter 3

Sirius toyed absent-mindedly with his dinner.

"And then I turned her silly little bird into a toad!"chortled howled as he regaled his friends with shenanigans in transfiguration. James and Remus snickered, mildly impressed at Peter's success.

"Well played, Pettigrew!" James congratulated, "Very impress that the bird didn't just explode!"

Peter begrudgingly smiled. He didn't get compliments often, so he was happy with James's backhanded one.

Sirius stared at the Ravenclaw table. Miranda sat at an end, alone again. He rolled around the information he had gleaned from her earlier that day. He couldn't get his head around what she meant about here parents sorting out a school for her.

"What do you blokes know about other wizarding schools?" he asked, disregarding his friends' current conversation.

"What?" Remus asked with curious confusion.

"That girl that looks like Ariana Lewis," Sirius nodded in her direction, "she told me she doesn't go here. Just visiting til her folks sort things out...whatever that means. What other school would she go to? Why doesn't she just go here?"

"There is Beauxbetans, in France," Remus offered.

Sirius shook his head,"There's no way she goes there, not with here American accent."

Remus rolled his eyes.

"Why are you so interested?" James asked, genuinely perplexed. Sirius didn't normally go for strange, loner girls.

"Maybe she's a squib," Peter added, a step behind in the conversation.

" I don't know," Sirius responded, taking a bit of his chicken. He briefly thought of jumping up and marching over to her. _Why are you so interested?_ James's word echoed in his mind. Why was he so interested? Instead, he stayed put and continued to watch her out of the corner of his eye.

"He's probably interested because that girl's skirt is about two inches too short for dress code," Remus remarked quietly, with a hint of a smirk. Sirius, James, and Peter all leered at the mystery girl.

"How could you possibly see her skirt?" Sirius scoffed, "She sitting at a table at the other end of the room!"

James and Peter also scowled at Mooney, who was still continued to quietly smile, enjoying dangling the carrot in front of his friends.

"Well, come on!" Peter demanded, "How do you know how short her skirt is?"

"Oh, he's just pulling our legs," Sirius quipped.

Remus kept smiling, regardless of his mate's disbelief. The boys returned to their meal, their spirits soured...well, not Mooney's.

Several minutes later, Sirius glanced up to see Miranda leaving the Great Hall.

"Merlin's Beard," he breathed, "how did I miss that?"

Miranda's skirt was indeed too short for dress code. As she left the Great Hall, she glanced over her shoulder and pulled down at her long shirt sleeves.

"Don't know; _I_ nearly broke my neck when I caught her walking in," Remus smiled. Sirius casually regarded his friend's comment as he continued to stare at Miranda.

She was almost out of the Hall, still pulling at her shirt sleeves, when her sister, Ariana, entered the Hall with a gaggle of Ravenclaw girls. Miranda and Ariana stopped short when they caught sight of each other, only three feet between them. Ariana's friends stood quietly behind her. Were they frightened? Sirius tried to read their expressions, but he was too far away. Eventually the girls resumed their paths and passed each other without a spoken word between them.

"Gentlemen, if you'll excuse me," Sirius stood, resolved to know what the hell that was all about, "I think I'll be getting in touch with my feline side." He quickly took off after Miranda, bumping into a group of surprised first year's as he did so.

"What?" Peter asked, screwing up his face in confusion.

"He's curious, you idiot," James sighed as he shook his head at Wormtail.

A/N: It's a short chapter. I had good intentions for this story, I really did. Can you tell where I'm going with this or has my muse run out on me so early in the evening? Maybe I need a Beta for content... :S

I'll see how this chapter fares; one review is really all it will take for me to either go on with or axe this story...kind of leaning toward axing it, at the moment.


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